A New Dawn
“A new Dawn”
Breakfast was a haze but running down the wet garden through hoof filled water holes was fun. The dew on the grass and the reflection of light winking through the millions of cobwebs on the whins made the world a wonderful and mysterious place. The droplets of morning dew danced with anticipation and washed the little boy's wellington boots into the new day. Everything was clear and beautiful then.
The rush across Dick Brady's fields was fun, seeing an old thatched cottage in the morning light with its collection of ramshackle outhouses scattered around it, as if in 'token protection. The grey stonewalls tumbled about it and the little boy expected that many wild things were among its caverns preparing for the new day as well. He was warmed in the comfort and love of a big Irish family with no fear of the world but a deep pleasure in it. He remembers trying to keep up with his elder brothers. Even then his limbs were shorter than the average five-year-old. They teased the little boy to go faster but there was a big brother’s love there too, which meant they were never very far ahead.
A new dawn and a new beginning for a five-year-old boy. The excitement of the day is still with him. Rising in the cool air of a September morning. The sun slanting through the small windows of the cottage casting lines and shadows across the flagged floor. There was hope in the little boy’s heart for the new day ahead. He had watched his brothers for so long heading out into a new day scrambling across briar-covered ditches and into the big fields that belonged to Dick Brady. There were dangerous cattle there so the wire fence kept the little boy out of those fields until today.
At break time, they sat out in the September sunshine and ate their sandwiches in the play shed. He ran on the grass, and around the tall trees that lined the high wall. He was tired now, as all the excitement of his very first day at Prizon School was compressed into every sinew of his tiny being. This day was the beginning of a long journey that would take him far away from his humble roots but it left a defining mark upon his life ahead.
Running down the hill and listening to the babbling brook just past Kenny's house, the little boy was bursting with anticipation. He could hear his heart thumping. He was out of breadth and his chest was heaving from a lack of air and the excitement within him.
The red door of Prizon School had long shut its secrets to him but now it was swung wide to welcome in the new school year. He was finally big enough to enter this hallowed ground. The brothers hung their coats just inside the red door and walked into a huge room with a partition pushed back which could divide the room in two. There were tall windows that allowed all the light in the world in. The school had wooden floors swept clean, with a fireplace at either end.
It was full of young faces, but they were a blur now. The little boy suddenly felt scared and made sure that his brother was within finger hold. He cannot remember much about the rest of the day. However, he does remember getting a slate and some chalk and working on numbers and letters.
